I chose i7 over i5 because of the X58 chipset, and because the socket 1366 is going to last longer than the p55, so I have better upgrade prospects later on if I need/want to. The i920 is also meant to overclock better. i7 also supports hyperthreading.

So far most programs are running fine. The one piece of hardware that doesn't want to work on my new system is the modem for the 'on the go' internet (3G connection). Typical. Might just end up having a dual boot for xp and see if it runs fine there. Otherwise it's gonna be internet on the old pc, and work/gaming/etc on the new.

Only a couple of programs really. I just wanted them to run faster. I;ve had my pc for a good three or four years now, and I'll still keep it as a second machine. I just wanted something that could handle everything I threw at it with ease.

Photoshop CS4, needless to say I can open a hell of a lot more RAW files simultaneously without any slow-down
Auto GK (conversion program; dvd Ifo to Avi with xvid), for converting DVD's to xvid.divx. I'm in the process of converting all my dvd's to xvid so that I can have them on the Western Digital Media player, connected to a 500gb hard disk. No more discs, just one big dvd juke box Nikon Capture NX
Adobe Lightroom, yet to install, I suspect it will also be a lot faster as far as indexing goes.

I'm hoping Microsoft will sort out their trim program for SSD's. I sure would like an 80gb SSD. That would be a sweet addition.

I'd never touch 1156 either, although the higher end cpu's on it have hyperthreading.

Intel are intending to release 6 core cpu's on 1366, (maybe 8?) but not on 1156. So thats a great drop in upgrade since you actually gain an extra 4 threads there, 12 threads total, a dream for heavily multithreaded applications and no doubt a decent performance gain over 8 plus the larger L3 Cache that will no doubt go along with that.

I'd never touch 1156 either, although the higher end cpu's on it have hyperthreading.

Intel are intending to release 6 core cpu's on 1366, (maybe 8?) but not on 1156. So thats a great drop in upgrade since you actually gain an extra 4 threads there, 12 threads total, a dream for heavily multithreaded applications and no doubt a decent performance gain over 8 plus the larger L3 Cache that will no doubt go along with that.

I see you got the P6T and not the P6T V2 - any reason for this?

There is no Asus p6t V2. It's the Asus P6T Deluxe V2. Main differences being that the P6T doesn't have dual ethernet ports, or the abiilty to use tri SLI. I had SLI on my A8N SLI Premium, with two 7900GT cards at 235 GBP at the time, and not even six months later the 7950GX2 was out, which I traded in (EVGA Step-up program) for the 8800GTX. I also never had the need for dual Ethernet ports that my A8N Sli premium had. Sure I went for 1366 which is more likely to support the latest CPU's, Am I actually going to upgrade to 6 or 8 core cpu? Probably not. There aren't that many programs that fully support that many threads anyway. Sure the load is balanced out, but so what? If PC games are not optimised to support four or more cores we arent going to see any proper improvement in frame rates, for example.

Nice machine but just out of curiosity, did you earth yourself when building the PC?,

from the pictures it looks like you built it on a friction causing bed and the slightest bit of static electricity can cause damage to components, ie longevity.

Yup, I kept touching the metal of the case

Other than that, no. I don't bother with a grounding strap etc. I've had my other PC for over three years, built it in the same manner as this. Lasted fine. And no, I wasn't rubbing the case all around the bed trying to create as much static electricity as possible.

Well, I have decided to jump ship from MAC as main workhorse to PC. I will keep the MAC in living room for email, internet etc, whilst use the PC In home office.

I already have an oldish pc, so did not need case or power supply. I decided to replace the GCARD though, as the old one is pretty poor (ATI 3850 I think). I also decided to get an SSD for OS start-up. I already have multiple HDDS for the storage.

I basically looked at the new iMAC (i7 quad core 27"), as my current one takes a very long time to create my 360/180 photos(I use mainly AUTOPANOGIGA). For around the same price, I found I could get the PC components below, with 2 monitors, 12 GB ram and SSD drive!

I bought a new CPU fan as I plan to overclock. I bought the PT6 SE as I have no need for NVIDIA SLI support, not likely to install an additional ATI either, though that is supported.